The House Oversight and Government Reform Committeeholds a hearing titled “FCC: Process and Transparency” on the commission’s process for developing its recently adopted net neutrality rules, where FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is scheduled to testify.

Wednesday

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee holds a hearing on a data security and breach notification discussion draft bill.

March 2, 2015

The American Cable Association holds its summit and congressional committees hold cybersecurity hearings as well as budget hearings on NASA, the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department this week.

The Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the Innovation Alliance, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, and the National Venture Capital Associationhost a patent event.

February 23, 2015

It’s a big week in Washington with the Federal Communications Commission’s vote on net neutrality rules. A slew of events and congressional hearings are also on tap. Get ready for a busy, busy week, folks.

Monday

New America hosts a day-long event titled “Cybersecurity for a New America: Big Ideas and New Voices.”

The heads of the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology testify before a House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on their fiscal 2016 budget requests.

Looking for some interesting reads for the weekend? A few pieces on hackers remaining in the State Department’s network, Portland’s efforts to update taxi regulations and Google’s research endeavors should get you started.

The Wall Street Journalreports: “Three months after the State Department confirmed hackers breached its unclassified email system, the government still hasn’t been able to evict them from the department’s network, according to three people familiar with the investigation.”

MIT Technology Reviewlooks at what it deems to be the 10 breakthrough technologies of 2015: “But we’d bet that every one of the milestones on this list will be worth following in the coming years.”

The New York Timeshas a piece on Google’s research efforts: “After patiently abiding a steep increase in research and development spending on efforts that range from biology to space exploration, Wall Street is starting to wonder when — and if — Google’s science projects will pay off.”

February 11, 2015

Earlier this week, Sen.Edward J. Markeyreleased a report that called for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue new privacy and security standards for vehicles to protect “drivers in the modern age of increasingly connected vehicles.” On Thursday, Markey said he plans to introduce legislation.

“We need the electronic equivalent of seat belts and air bags to keep drivers and their information safe,” the Massachusetts Democrat said at a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing Wednesday.

The security and privacy standards he outlined are largely what the report calls for.

Among the requirements he said should be included in security standards: protecting a vehicle’s wireless access points against hacking, ensuring information collected is secured and encrypted, and the ability for manufacturers to detect and respond to “real-time hacking events.”

Among the requirements he said should be included in privacy standards: drivers being informed about data collection and use and requiring drivers to give consent in order for personal driving information to be used for advertising or marketing.

He also wants a rating system for “how the vehicle protects drivers beyond those minimum standards,” to be displayed in new cars.

February 9, 2015

Among this week’s events, Lincoln Labs hosts its Reboot Congress event, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee holds a hearing on the Internet of Things and the Technology Policy Institute holds an event on patent legislation.

February 6, 2015

The big news this week, of course, was Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’sunveiling of his proposal for net neutrality rules. Technocrat’s posts this week included that big topic as well as President Barack Obama‘s fiscal 2016 budget request, why you might have seen a DeLorean around the Hill, and more.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says he’ll circulate to fellow commissioners this week a proposal for net neutrality rules that would treat Internet providers as common carriers, using Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, the same portion of law the agency uses to regulate phone companies and other common carriers.

President Barack Obama recently released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2016, and Technocrat chatted with Matt Hourihan of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences about some science and research issues proposed in previous budgets that have and haven’t been embraced by lawmakers.

You might have spotted a DeLorean around the Hill on Thursday and if you’re wondering why, it’s part of a campaign by Americans for Tax Reform to bring attention to their call for an update to tech laws they say are outdated.

Some states have been proposing or advancing legislation to let computer science classes be counted as a foreign language either to meet high school graduation or college admissions requirements. You can add Washington to the list of states looking at this matter.

February 2, 2015

Here’s a look at some of the Obama administration’s fiscal 2016 budget proposal to Congress on the issues of cybersecurity, digital service teams and NASA’s commercial crew program:

CQ Roll Call’s Shawn Zeller reports that President Obama’s budget request on Monday “raises the ante” in protecting government, business and consumers from cyberattacks.

He reports (subscription): “The administration pledges $14 billion — $1 billion more than the current year — toward securing government computers, working with the private sector to protect its technological infrastructure and conducting more research on how to stop hackers from stealing information.”

The NASA budget proposed a very small increase for the overall agency, but a big boost for its commercial crew program. The agency proposed $1.2 billion for the commercial crew program, which would be $439 million, or 55 percent, more than the fiscal 2015 level.

In September, NASA announced contracts for Boeing and SpaceX to complete development of systems to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. After certification, the companies will conduct between two and six crewed missions to the space station.

NASA has been relying on the Russia Soyuz vehicle to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and the agency has been trying to aid development of U.S. private companies’ capabilities to transport the agency’s astronauts to the space station instead.

NASA Chief Financial Officer David Radzanowski told reporters on Monday that the funding level requested for commercial crew reflects contracts with those companies and milestones laid out in them. If the companies achieve them, then NASA would need $1.2 billion, he said.